Telephone booth



y 1944- F. A. KUNTZ 2,353,045

' TELEPHONE BOOTH Filed May 50, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 wvmroR F. A. K UN TZ A 7' TORNEV July 4, 1944.

EA. KUNTZ 2,353,045

TELEPHONE BOOTH Filed May 50, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 R2 ATTORNEY Jiily 4, 1944. F. A. KUNTZ TELEPHONE BOOTH Filed May 30, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 V 4 U 52 u H 9 ew M WK A o wfiafi d a, B 3 CW 3 F L m 9 Q 7 iw. V W 7, yway V v m u.

July 4, 1944. F. A; KUNTZ TELEPHONE BOOTH Filed May 30, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 lNVENTOR ATTORNEY @(acg JWJK Patented July 4, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TELEPHONE BOOTH Frank A. Kuntz, Morristown, N. J., assignor to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 30 1942, Serial No. 445,173

2 Claims.

stantially rectangularly-shaped opening in its upper portion for receiving a box-like casing, with means carried by the casing for securing it at a number of points to the wall panel, this casing being filled with sound-proofing material such as rock-wool retained in position therein by a perforated plate which forms a lining for the interior of the booth, while means in the form of a Wooden frame secured to the wall panel exteriorly of the booth serves as a guard against damage to the box-like casing.

Each of the side walls for the booth consists of two panels having registering openings and securely held in contacting fiatwise relation to each other to form a mounting frame for a cas-, ing closing the rectangular opening of the exteriorly disposed wall panel with means carried by the peripherally disposed rim of the casing for securing the latter in assembled relation in the registering openings of the panels. Means in the form of perforated plates similar to that used in connection with the rear wall serve as a lining for the side walls at the interior of the booth, while moldings serve for collectively securing the longitudinal adjacent edges of the perforated plates at the corners of the booth to the rear wall and inner panels of the side walls.

The ceiling of the booth consists of supporting means in the form of a Wooden frame to which a perforated plate is secured to form a container for sound-proofing material, with means secured to the perforated plate outwardly of the booth for supporting a lighting fixture, the top edges of the inner wall panels included in the side walls providing means for supporting and securing the ceiling thus constructedin assembled relation to the walls. Means secured to the rear wall and to the outer panels of the side walls and to the front wall is provided for supporting and securing a roof of non-metallic material, while the rear wall and the side walls are held collectively in assembled relation at their lower ends by means in the form of a base having upright extending flange portions fitted between the panels forming the side walls of the booth.

Means secured to the rear wall and side walls serve as linings at the interior of the booth, such linings extending from the lower disposed edges of the perforated plates to so-called kick plates formed with a flooring of non-metallic material secured to the base. of the booth with means provided for securing the upper edges of the kick plates and the lower edges of the linings collec tively to the booth walls, other means being secured to the. rear wall and to one. of the side walls to support a telephone apparatus in the form of a coin collector in the sound-proof zone of the booth.

Other novel features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description and by the claims appended thereto, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is an elevational view of the booth shown in perspective and with a number of parts shown with portions cut away;

Fig. 2 is a, horizontal cross-sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 4;

'Fig. 3 is an elevation of one of the side walls shown in perspective and the cooperatin p s exploded;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the booth taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a partial View of the booth shown in perspective with elements of the walls with portions cut away and the ceiling exploded;

Fig. 6 is a partial view of one of the booth walls shown in section;

Fig. '7 is a partial view of one of the booth walls and the base of the booth shown in vertical section;

Fig. 8 is a partial view of the ceiling in vertical section showing the lighting fixture in assembled position thereon; and

Fig. '9 is a top view of Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings, a metallic base IS having formed integrally therewith at three sides upright extending flange portions such as ll, best seen in Fig. '7, one of which is secured to the outer disposed surface of a rear wall R at its lower end, while the other flange portions of this base are fitted between the cooperating panels l2 and i3 of the left side wall R2 and the right side wall R3 of the booth. The panels l3 of the right and left side walls are secured to the side flange portions H of the base by a number of screws I4 while the rear vwall R is secured to its flange portion II by a plurality of screws I5, the wall panels l2 at the right and the left side of the booth being secured along their longitudinal edges to their cooperative wall panels l3 at the rear of the booth by a plurality of wood screws l6 shown in Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 7.

- The frontwall R4 which forms the entrance of the booth is grooved longitudinally as shown in Fig. 2 for receiving tongues H and it at the longitudinal edges of the panels l3 of the right and left side walls and these walls are held securely in assembled relation at their longitudinal edges by wood screws l9 and 20. Similarly, the rear wall R of the booth is provided with longitudinally formed grooves for receiving tongues 2| and 22 formed longitudinally of the panels I3 of side walls R2 and R3 at the rear of the booth, these walls being held securely in assembled relation at their longitudinal edges by a plurality of wood screws 23 and 24.

A ceiling CL for the booth as shown in Figs. 1,

4 and 5 consists of a wood frame 25 to the underside of which is secured a perforated metal sheet.

28 retaining in place a sheet of woven fabric 29, best seen in Figs. 4 and 5, a pad 30 of fibrous material such as rock-wool for sound-proofing the top end of the booth, and a second sheet of woven fabric 3|, the perforated sheet metal 28, the rock-wool pad 35 and sheets 29 and 3| of woven fabric each having a central opening for receiving a wood frame 32 provided for mounting a fixture LF, best seen in Figs. 4, 8 and 9 for the lighting of the booth, this fixture having a metallic casing 50 provided for housing a wire connector 5| and a switch mechanism not shown for controlling the operation of a lamp 52 while an inverted translucent dome 53 and a molding ring 54 close the opening of the frame 32 at the underside of perforated sheet 28, the ceiling CL, thus constructed being fitted interiorly of the booth and supported on the top disposed edges of panels [3 of the side walls R2 and R3 where it is secured by a plurality of screws 21 best seen in Fig. 4.

The panels l3 of the side walls R2 and R3 are provided with rectangularly-shaped openings 33 and 35 registering with similarly sized rectangularly-shaped countersunk openings 35 and 36 see Figs. 4 and 5 in their cooperating panels l2 for receiving the peripheral rims 3s and 40 of two casings 31 and 38, thelatter casings cooperating with perforated metallic plates 46 and 41 to form housings for sheets of woven fabric 4| and. 42 and pads P and PI of sound-absorbing material, such as rock-wool, provided for sound-proofing these walls a distance extending from the underside surface of ceiling plate 28 down to a point substantially midway of the length of the booth as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. I

To the rims 39 and 40 of casings 31 and 38 are welded a plurality of similar angle pieces as 60 provided for securing these casings and their metallic perforated plates 46 and 41 collectively as by screws 63 to the'panels [3 of the side walls R2 and R3, as shown in Figs. 2, 5 and 6. The rear wall R of the booth as shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 5 is provided with an opening for receiving a casing 0L3 cooperating with an apertured plate 55 for housing a pad 56 of sound-proofing material and a sheet of woven fabric 51, while a wood frame 58 shown in Fig. 2 is nailed to the rear wall R to serve as a guard against damage to the sound-proofing casing GL3. The front wall R4 is provided with an opening for receiving a door consisting of folding door sections FS and PS! hinged together by a so-called piano hinge 59 while the folding section FSI is pivoted onto the front wall R4 by a pair of hinges 6| in a manner to permit the movement of the door from the folded position shown in Fig. 1 to the unfolded closed position shown in Fig. 2.

To the side Walls R2 and R3 and the rear wall R of the booth are secured interiorly of the booth as by a plurality of screws H wall lining plates 18, I9 and 85, best seen in Figs. 1 and 4, extending in respective vertical alignment from the lower disposed edges of the perforated plates 46, 41 and 55 of the sound-proofing casings to the top of the peripherally disposed edges of so-called kick plates at, b, 0, shown in Figs. 1 and '7, formed integrally with a non-metallic covering FC resting on the base I0. The lower disposed edges of these wall lining plates are secured to the panels l3 of the side walls R2 and R3 and to the rear wall R by molding strips 8| collectively clamping the upper edges of the kick plates a, b, c, and the lower edges of lining plates 18, I9 and 80 by a plurality of screws 82, while the edge of the fioor covering FC at the entrance of the booth is held securely to this base by a metallic thread bar 84 in turn secured to the base H] by a plurality of screws 85.

The perforated plates 46, 55 and 41. and their corresponding lining plates I8, 19 and are held at their longitudinal edges by similar molding strips 86 secured to the rear corner interiorly of the booth as by a plurality of screws 81 and at their upper edges by corner moldings 88 which are secured to the rear wall R by a plurality of screws as 89 best seen in Fig. 4.

To the perforated plates 55 and 4'! and to their corresponding vertically aligned lining plates 19 and i8 is secured, as by screws 65 and 66, best seen in Fig. 2, a support and shelf unit 68 for a telephone apparatus in the form of a coin collector ET, the screws 65 and 55 engaging reenforcing metallic pieces 17 and H2 in the lining plates 18 and 19, respectively.

Telephone booths constructed according to this invention, due to the use of a minimum number of metallic parts have been found to be of simple construction, economical to manufacture and maintain and possessing a high degree of soundabsorbing characteristics.

I claim:

1. A telephone booth comprising two side walls, a ceiling, a rear wall and a front wall, a base for holding said walls in assembled relation at their lower ends, each of said side walls comprising two wall panels of unequal height from said base, said panels having registering openings, one of said panels forming a peripheral shoulder portion concentric to the opening in the other of said panels, a sound-proof casing fitted in the opening in one of said panels in abutment against said shoulder portion to close the opening in the other panel, a sound-proof ceiling for the booth resting on the top disposed end of the shorter panels interiorly of the booth, means for securing said ceiling to the last-mentioned wall panels, and means for securing the panels of the greater height to said rear wall and to said front wall at their longitudinal edges.

2. A telephone booth having a front wall, two side walls and a rear wall, each of said side walls and said rear wall consisting of two wooden wall panels secured to each other in flatwise contacting relation and each having an opening at its upper end disposed in concentric relation to each other, a box-like metallic casing fitted in the registering openings in both of said panels, means carried by said casings for securing the latter to the interiorly disposed of said panels, a pad of rock wool sound-proofing material in each of said casings, a sheet of fabric for holding the rock wool in each of the casings and a perforated metallic plate serving as covering for each of said casings and linings for the walls of the booth at the upper part thereof FRANK A. KUNTZ. 

